August 1995 a sizzler!

[Weather Enthusiast91]

I was 3 at the time, so needless to say have no memory of it. But from what I have heard and read I'd probably have it down as being the best August in my lifetime due to how prolonged the heatwave was. It was hot all the way up to around the 26th, when temperatures dropped down to the seasonal average.

 

[R Alto]

Bits that stick with me. Late June, sun high in the sky, deep blue, easterly wind and waiting, hoping for the smallest chance of tiny isolated popcorn storms that were trundling around the channel for a couple of days. Didn't see a dicky bird, barely a cloud, but the idea that there were some exotic weather anomalies just out there instilled some magic into the air. 

I'm not sure on the date, I want to say 11th or 13th July? I had been camping at shell bay in Dorset. I was up early, so  probably around 6am. A stunning thunderstorm drifted up from the South. Wild cumulus congestus beneath cirro stratus, like something from a Picasso painting towered above the landscape in all their chaotic glory. A dark round anvil swallowed the sky above. Heavy warmish rain and cloud to ground strikes ensued. Great cure for a hangover. 

Lastly and probably most representative of that summer was that by mid August, the brown tinder dry leaves that had fallen early to join the equally pale dead grass beneath. 

[Thundery wintry showers]

2 hours ago, R Alto said:

I'm not sure on the date, I want to say 11th or 13th July? I had been camping at shell bay in Dorset. I was up early, so  probably around 6am. A stunning thunderstorm drifted up from the South. Wild cumulus congestus beneath cirro stratus, like something from a Picasso painting towered above the landscape in all their chaotic glory. A dark round anvil swallowed the sky above. Heavy warmish rain and cloud to ground strikes ensued. Great cure for a hangover.

Yes, 11/12 July produced the most widespread thunderstorms of 1995.  They headed into the south-west on the 11th and then spread north and east through most parts of the country.  Even South Shields had a significant thunderstorm from them on the night of the 11th/12th.

[SummerShower]

I was in northern France for the 1st week of August 1995 and incidentally experienced massive thunderstorms overnight 1/2, 2/3rd and again on the 4th.

The hottest weather of the month in the UK occurred as this thundery low sat to the south and threw up very hot air.   I wouldn't mind betting the 20C isotherm was nearby at this time.

[Don]

2 hours ago, SummerShower said:

I was in northern France for the 1st week of August 1995 and incidentally experienced massive thunderstorms overnight 1/2, 2/3rd and again on the 4th.

The hottest weather of the month in the UK occurred as this thundery low sat to the south and threw up very hot air.   I wouldn't mind betting the 20C isotherm was nearby at this time.

Which unlike now was a rare occurrence back then!

[Cheshire Freeze]

On 02/08/2022 at 22:01, Wold Topper said:

Ohh those were the days, Ford fiesta xr2 on the drive, brilliant music from Oasis n Blur etc, i was 19 then and that was a summer of fun! #nostalgia

I think it’s become increasingly apparent that the 90s was the last truly great decade.

[Don]

2 minutes ago, CreweCold said:

I think it’s become increasingly apparent that the 90s was the last truly great decade.

Will there ever be another truly great decade?

[Cheshire Freeze]

Just now, Don said:

Will there ever be another truly great decade?

Not the way things have gone  

 

[Don]

3 minutes ago, CreweCold said:

Not the way things have gone  

 

No, that's my feeling too! 

[Wold Topper]

5 minutes ago, CreweCold said:

I think it’s become increasingly apparent that the 90s was the last truly great decade.

From a nostalgic point of view if your in your mid forties it certainly was but i suppose that metric can be applied over many decades and age ranges? personally the 90's was fantastic, nowadays my back hurts and my knee is fu#@ed

[Dark Horse]

The 90s was great. Spent what seemed like all of the time playing football with my mates, watching WWE or WWF as it was known then before they had to change, spending some time on our Sega mega drives and Super Nintendo's and exploring the woods on our bikes. None of us were obese or had a bit of fat on us, we was skinny rakes but now when you look around about 75% of people are overweight including kids. In the 90s Music was pretty good, TV was better than now (maybe there's too much choice and competition now??), more people were genuinely nicer and not as selfish as now, back then you could say what was on your mind and not get cancelled and humour was abundant, nowadays through social media we can get to know all sorts about people and almost every aspect of their lives which we never did before, this had lead to resentment and jealousy as people on Facebook in particular are always comparing their lives with others striving for perfection and probably *a part* of the explosion in mental health issues? mysteriousness about people was great in the 90s before the internet, all you had in general was rumours. Seems like from 2000 each year has slowly got worse in most respects. I'm glad I'm 37 and old enough to remember how good things were. Life wasn't perfect as there will always be ups and downs but it was better than now. People 10 years younger than me haven't a clue what I'm talking about as they won't remember.

Edited August 9, 2022 by Dark Horse

[reef]

Summer 1995 is the driest and sunniest summer on record here with 76.5mm and 698 hours respectively. The August was the driest and sunniest of the three months. It was the sunniest August on record here and the driest summer month (4.9mm) in all of my records.

When you look at the mean temperature though you can really see the effect of almost 30 years of climate change.

Our mean temp for that summer was 16.2C. Thats only 0.2C above the current 1991-2020 average and actually cooler than summers 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021. In fact, in the summers since the turn of the century, it would be 10th coolest! Admittedly it was quite an 'easterly' summer which reduces temperatures here a little, but when you look at summers since like 2003 (17.0C), 2006 (17.1C) and 2018 (17.5C), you can tell its from a different time. Even a grim summer like 2012 was only 0.8C cooler!

As for the August, it had a mean of 17.5C and has been beaten 6 times since!

 

Edited August 11, 2022 by reef

[Thundery wintry showers]

The current spell is certainly reminding me a lot of August 1995, as I sort of expected it to given the strikingly similar synoptic setup.  At present virtually the whole country is cloudless apart from the far north-west of Scotland.  It doesn't take as much to get mid-30s Celsius as it did back then, though.  Apart from an exceptional spell at the start of the month, August 1995 was mostly a case of mid to high 20s and occasionally low 30s.

In early August 1995, when it hit 35C locally in southern Britain, the 15C 850hPa isotherm covered a large slice of the UK and 850hPa temperatures over France were mostly between 17 and 19C, but the 20C isotherm was mainly confined to Spain.  The 850hPa temperatures, to me, give a comparably strong indication of the intensification of western European heatwaves since the turn of the 21st century to the surface temperatures.  It used to be very rare to see the 20C isotherm get beyond central France.

Edited August 11, 2022 by Thundery wintry showers

[Sunny76]

On 09/08/2022 at 00:03, Wold Topper said:

From a nostalgic point of view if your in your mid forties it certainly was but i suppose that metric can be applied over many decades and age ranges? personally the 90's was fantastic, nowadays my back hurts and my knee is fu#@ed

Some of the 90s was good but not all of it. 2000s had some good years, especially the earlier years. 

[Thundery wintry showers]

In many cases, nostalgia for a particular decade is linked with recollections of the carefree and innocent days of our childhoods.  Most generations tend to end up thinking that the decade that they grew up in was the best decade. 

However, there is a fair case for highlighting the 1990s as a good decade from a meteorological point of view.  In particular, it was at a time when global warming/climate change was just starting to kick in, so the impacts on the overall climate system were just starting to appear and were far less concerning than they are today.  While 1995 was the warmest year on record globally at the time, and set a new record minimum September Arctic sea ice extent, neither were far below the normal bounds of 20th century variability.  The 1990s also had more than its fair share of hot (but not generally excessively hot), dry and sunny summers, though there were a few less well-received ones (1992, 1993, 1998).

August is an odd month in that it is normally relatively changeable and/or cloudy but there are three Augusts - 1947 and 1976 as well as 1995 - which stand out for having an exceptional persistence of high pressure in the right place to bring cloudless skies to almost the whole country.  In the Met Office sunshine series, 1947, 1976 and 1995 were the only three Augusts to exceed 200 hours of sunshine, but all had 240+ hours.  It remains to be seen whether the week or so of this setup in August 2022 proves enough to bring this August into the 200+ hour bracket.

Edited August 11, 2022 by Thundery wintry showers

[damianslaw]

6 hours ago, Thundery wintry showers said:

In many cases, nostalgia for a particular decade is linked with recollections of the carefree and innocent days of our childhoods.  Most generations tend to end up thinking that the decade that they grew up in was the best decade. 

However, there is a fair case for highlighting the 1990s as a good decade from a meteorological point of view.  In particular, it was at a time when global warming/climate change was just starting to kick in, so the impacts on the overall climate system were just starting to appear and were far less concerning than they are today.  While 1995 was the warmest year on record globally at the time, and set a new record minimum September Arctic sea ice extent, neither were far below the normal bounds of 20th century variability.  The 1990s also had more than its fair share of hot (but not generally excessively hot), dry and sunny summers, though there were a few less well-received ones (1992, 1993, 1998).

August is an odd month in that it is normally relatively changeable and/or cloudy but there are three Augusts - 1947 and 1976 as well as 1995 - which stand out for having an exceptional persistence of high pressure in the right place to bring cloudless skies to almost the whole country.  In the Met Office sunshine series, 1947, 1976 and 1995 were the only three Augusts to exceed 200 hours of sunshine, but all had 240+ hours.  It remains to be seen whether the week or so of this setup in August 2022 proves enough to bring this August into the 200+ hour bracket.

Interesting to note all three of the years brought cold either just after in December or before Feb 47..

For me 1995 is the best summer of my lifetime. It was great out west in the persistent easterlies.. 2 months of near dry warm sunny weather late June to late Augusr. This summer absolutely nowhere near it.

[Don]

7 hours ago, Thundery wintry showers said:

While 1995 was the warmest year on record globally at the time, and set a new record minimum September Arctic sea ice extent, 

I wasn't aware this was the case!  Probably nothing out of the ordinary by today's standards!

[damianslaw]

6 minutes ago, Don said:

I wasn't aware this was the case!  Probably nothing out of the ordinary by today's standards!

1995 brought unusually persistent mid latitude blocking from March onwards. I think atlantic SST's were part of reason. You thought this year has seen a dead Atlantic, the 12 month period Mar 95 to Feb 96 must be one of quietest Atlantic periods on record.. 

[Don]

1 minute ago, damianslaw said:

1995 brought unusually persistent mid latitude blocking from March onwards. I think atlantic SST's were part of reason. You thought this year has seen a dead Atlantic, the 12 month period Mar 95 to Feb 96 must be one of quietest Atlantic periods on record.. 

What was the hurricane season like in 1995?

[damianslaw]

1 minute ago, Don said:

What was the hurricane season like in 1995?

Not sure. I don't recall much storm activity in the autumn. Sept was very cyclonic and wet but not attributed to tropical storm activity.. Oct was abnormally mild sunny and dry. Nov very quiet overall.

Edited August 11, 2022 by damianslaw

[Don]

Just now, damianslaw said:

Not sure. 

I have a feeling it was active but like you, not sure.

[damianslaw]

On 09/08/2022 at 00:03, Wold Topper said:

From a nostalgic point of view if your in your mid forties it certainly was but i suppose that metric can be applied over many decades and age ranges? personally the 90's was fantastic, nowadays my back hurts and my knee is fu#@ed

Truth in this.. tend to recall late teenage years with strong memories, so yes anyone in the age range 43- 47 will no doubt have very strong positive memories of mid 90s circa 94-96 very fondly.. me included! The fact it coincided with a cracking summer bookends by two very good ones in 94 and 96, a winter in 95-96 that brought alot of cold snowy weather followed by a cold first half to winter 96-97 makes it more memorable as well, had it been like the late 90s much less so!

Edited August 11, 2022 by damianslaw

[Don]

1 hour ago, damianslaw said:

Truth in this.. tend to recall late teenage years with strong memories, so yes anyone in the age range 43- 47 will no doubt have very strong positive memories of mid 90s circa 94-96 very fondly.. me included! The fact it coincided with a cracking summer bookends by two very good ones in 94 and 96, a winter in 95-96 that brought alot of cold snowy weather followed by a cold first half to winter 96-97 makes it more memorable as well, had it been like the late 90s much less so!

Except I saw next to bugger all snow during those winters!!  However, the rest I strongly agree with! 

[Row w]

I can't remember much of the summer of 95 as I was only 7 at the time but one memory that always sticks in my mind was the invasion of ladybirds I'm guessing due to the heat, I remember my dad pulling the branches back on one of the conifers in my then front garden and the trunk of it completely covered in ladybirds it looked like hundreds of them 

[Methuselah]

16 minutes ago, Row w said:

I can't remember much of the summer of 95 as I was only 7 at the time but one memory that always sticks in my mind was the invasion of ladybirds I'm guessing due to the heat, I remember my dad pulling the branches back on one of the conifers in my then front garden and the trunk of it completely covered in ladybirds it looked like hundreds of them 

That was something else 1976 is famous for, too, Row W; the sky was full of ladybirds and the washing covered in them!